_obama/index.html?inline=nyt-per">President Obama for his signature.

Senate Democrats had hoped to complete work on the measure on Wednesday and send it directly to the president, by defeating all the amendments and challenges raised by Republicans. But in a session that stretched into the small hours of the morning, the Republicans identified parliamentary problems with at least two provisions; correcting them will require that the House vote again to approve the measure.

The Democratic leader of the House, Steny Hoyer of Maryland, told reporters that the House would take the measure up Thursday afternoon if, as expected, it is approved by the Senate in a vote scheduled for 2 p.m.

Under the complex budget reconciliation rules governing the measure, which Democrats are using so that the bill will not be vulnerable to a filibuster in the Senate, all provisions of the bill must directly affect government spending or revenues. In addition to the changes to the health-care overhaul bill, the reconciliation measure also includes a broad restructuring of federal student loan programs that will help pay for billions of dollars in education initiatives.

The flaws identified by Republicans were in the education section in the bill and did not appear to endanger the eventual adoption of the changes to the health care legislation.

Senate Democrats said that one of the provisions in question involved changes to the Pell grant program for college students from low-income families. The bill would establish an automatic increase in grant awards, tied to inflation; the disputed provision would prevent any reductions in the maximum award.

Before the parliamentary issues arose, Democrats defeated more than two dozen Republican amendments and other proposals aimed at derailing the legislation or making changes that would delay it by forcing an additional vote in the House.

Shortly before 2:30 a.m., Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, put forward yet another amendment. Mr. Vitter’s proposal would have exempted mobile mammography units from paying a federal fuel tax.

In urging adoption of his amendment, Mr. Vitter declared, “This reconciliation bill is already going back to the House.” At the same time, Senate leaders from both parties were conferring animatedly on the floor.

At about 2:45 a.m., with the flaws in the bill identified, the Senate majority leader, Harry Reid of Nevada, brought the late-night session to a close.

The House adopted the Senate-passed health care bill on Sunday by a vote of 219 to 212, and Mr. Obama signed it into law on Tuesday, meaning the main components of the Democrats’ overhaul were guaranteed to go forward. Also on Sunday night, the House approved a package of changes as part of a budget reconciliation bill, by a vote of 220 to 211. That bill was sent to the Senate for its consideration, and was the target of the amendments and challenges that were raised on Wednesday.

Senator Kent Conrad, Democrat of North Dakota and chairman of the Budget Committee, said that besides the Pell grant problem, a second issue had arisen that he said was a mostly insignificant technical matter, and that a third issue was being reviewed by the Senate parliamentarian.

The risk for Democrats in a parliamentary challenge is that Republicans could knock out key provisions of the legislation, or win a decision that upends the mechanisms Democrats rely on to pay for the measure.

“We see no impact on the score and very insignificant impact on any policy,” Mr. Conrad said, referring to a cost estimate of the legislation. “This is not going to be a problem.”

A spokeswoman for Senator Tom Harkin, Democrat of Iowa and chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the provisions struck out by the parliamentarian would not derail the student-loan overhaul either. “The parliamentarian struck two minor provisions tonight from the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act,” the spokeswoman, Kate Cyrul, said. “These changes do not impact the reforms to the student loan programs and the important investments in education. We are confident the House will quickly pass the bill with these minor changes.”

The Senate adjourned at 2:55 a.m. Thursday morning and reconvened around 10 a.m.

www.nytimes.com/2010/03/26/health/policy/26health.html

March 25, 2010